by: Diane Benjamin
Yesterday the Chicago Tribune posted a long article on a vote Bill Brady took last November that benefited his family. The local press not only didn’t report on Brady’s vote, they never looked for any corruption in it. Local insiders are exempt from any scrutiny.
The Pantagraph and WJBC have a firm policy against investigative reporting, probably because it’s too expensive. They don’t realize that more people would read the local paper or listen to their news if corruption was exposed. Fluff pieces aren’t worth paying for. The Chicago Tribune appears to be the last media source unafraid to confront the powerful.
Here’s the story reported by the Chicago Tribune:
State Sen. Bill Brady voted in November for tax subsidies that helped revive his family’s struggling real estate investment in a central Illinois town, raising issues of potential conflict of interest as Brady seeks the Republican nomination for governor.
A developer building an assisted-living complex in Gibson City said the subsidies are crucial to making the project work. And he paid Brady’s family a premium for the land he needed, just a few months before the senator’s vote.
Illinois law allows lawmakers to vote on matters that could benefit their private interests, requiring only that they consider whether to abstain. Brady says he saw no conflict of interest in his Nov. 7 vote because his mother, a real estate agent, owned the land at the time.
“I had an interest, but I don’t have an interest now,” Brady told the Tribune recently when asked about his vote. But the assisted-living developer told the newspaper he dealt only with Bill Brady when he bought the land.
Nancy K. Brady had acquired the property after the business run by her sons could not develop the land and turned it over to the bank that lent them the money.
Read More: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-bill-brady-gibson-city-land-met-20140206,0,3272260.story
The Slantagraph exposing corruption? Then they would have to expose themselves!
I listened to the wjbc interview of Brady. Scott Laughlin kinda tried, but really doesn’t have a big enough set to ask the tough questions. The local media is a joke.